Observatory

By James Grubel CANBERRA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Raging wildfires destroyed at least another 28 homes and licked at Australia's leading optical space observatory on Monday, officials said, but spared giant telescopes that have mapped far-away galaxies and discovered new planets. Less fortunate were a father and son who police arrested after a fire was lit deliberately to destroy illegal drug laboratories they were alleged to be running in dense...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A six-week offensive by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against rival Islamists in eastern Syria has killed 600 fighters and driven 130,000 people from their homes, a monitoring group said on Tuesday. ISIL, which is battling to control a huge area of east Syria and western Iraq, has advanced along the Euphrates River in the oil producing Deir al-Zor province, driving back militants from al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamic...

Rick Roman coasted down in the elevator — all 95 floors — from his Signature Room restaurant in the John Hancock Tower to the lobby. There, he stared at an ad for the building's observatory, featuring an electric blue cocktail and the slogan "Drink it all in at Chicago's highest cafe and bar." Wait a minute, Roman thought, the observatory is on the 94th floor. Roman assumed an outside ad agency didn't realize a restaurant occupied the two floors...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - More than 20 people were killed when Syrian rebels shelled a tent being used for election campaigning in the southern province of Deraa, a monitoring group said on Friday. At least 11 civilians, including a child, were among those killed in the attack which occurred in the al-Matar district of Deraa city on Thursday night, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Syria is holding an election next month...

The Soviet Union launched a 20-ton astrophysical observatory that will dock April 5 with the orbiting Mir station as the key building block of a permanent manned scientific space complex, Radio Moscow said Tuesday. The deputy mission director, Viktor Blagov, said the link-up of the self- contained astrophysical observatory, called Quantum, with the Mir, scheduled for April 5, would "open a new chapter" in manned space flight.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - About 30 Syrian government fighters were killed when rebels set off a bomb in a tunnel beneath a checkpoint in a northwestern province, activists said on Tuesday. Videos and images posted by opposition supporters online showed a massive plume of smoke and earth shooting into the air near a small town as men shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). Rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad regularly carry out guerrilla attacks...

It was a night of a "thousand stars," and the Harper Community College astronomy staff last week gave viewers one last chance to view the comet Hale-Bopp.. Amateur astronomers said farewell to the comet at the college's observatory, where the stars were more crystalline than the fuzzy glob people glimpsed through telescopes and binoculars. Officially, Hale-Bopp will be visible in the western sky until May 15, said Paul Sipiera, a Harper astronomy professor. The comet has been...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Fighting between al Qaeda's Syria branch and a splinter group in eastern Syria has forced more than 60,000 people to flee their homes, emptied villages and killed scores of fighters, a monitoring group said. Fighters from the al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, also arrested a rebel commander from a more moderate group and several other insurgent leaders in a southern province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Infighting among insurgents has...

A NASA observatory rocketed into space Saturday on a mission to scan the universe for the faint afterglow of creation. Liftoff occurred on schedule at 3:46 p.m. local time, with the unmanned Delta rocket climbing through a cloudy sky and placing the MAP spacecraft in its proper orbit. The craft's electricity-generating solar panels popped open on cue. The $95 million MAP observatory will study the oldest light in the universe, that which was created within moments of the Big Bang.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Over 146,000 people, more than a third of them civilians, have been killed in Syria's uprising-turned-civil war which enters its fourth year this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. The last U.N. figures, released in July 2013, put the death toll at least 100,000 but the United Nations said in January it would stop updating the toll as conditions on the ground made it impossible to make accurate estimates. Reuters...

Astronomy buffs are getting a chance to take a peek at the moon, stars and planets during a free open house at the Harper College Observatory in Palatine. The Planetary Studies Foundation, a non-profit agency based in Elgin, and the Harper College Astronomy Club have been sponsoring open houses throughout the summer, inviting the public to view the evening sky through a variety of telescopes. On Friday, the college's observatory will open its doors from sunset to 10:30 p.m. to give the...

BEIRUT, Feb 22 (Reuters) - An armed Kurdish group said it had captured a town in northeast Syria from Islamist fighters on Saturday in a battle which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said had killed 28 people, most of them Islamists. The People's Protection Units, the Kurdish group, said in a statement its fighters had killed around 50 "armed mercenaries" in the battle for Tal Brak, a town located on a highway between the cities of Hassaka and Qamishli. Rami...

From the garage attic roof that opens in several places to accommodate large telescopes to the elaborate train display and children's play area in the basement, Lon Furness has created something fun on every level of his two-story Peoria home. The house features 10 major stairways and eight smaller ones, all but one built by the 66-year-old Furness. "I like to build things," the retired Caterpillar Inc. employee said. "I especially like to build stairways. I guess I just like easy access."

BEIRUT (Reuters) - More Syrians have been killed in the three weeks since peace talks began than at any other time in the civil war, activists said on Wednesday, as troops pounded rebel towns on the Lebanese border and negotiations faltered in Geneva. More than 230 people have been killed every day in Syria since January 22, when international mediators brought President Bashar al-Assad's government and its opponents together, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human...

Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest celestial observatory in the Americas--a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that is as old as the pillars of Stonehenge. The observatory was built on the top of a 33-foot-high pyramid with precise alignments and sight lines that provide an astronomical calendar for agriculture, archeologist Robert Benfer of the University of Missouri said. The people who built the observatory--three...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rebels in Syria with ties to al Qaeda have decapitated a man believed to have been a pro-government Shi'ite fighter, an amateur video of the public beheading posted to the Internet on Saturday showed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which posted the video, said the beheading was conducted by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign-led group fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and establish an...

Not long ago, it was a thrill to ride to the top of a tall building. Tourists, suburban families and field-tripping kids used to plan outings to stroll the observation deck, enjoying a breathtaking panorama. But a view from the top isn't enough anymore. As Americans grow ever more jaded, many skyscrapers are now working to top themselves, creating virtual-reality extravaganzas, complete with interactive computer kiosks and simulated thrill rides to coax more money from tourists' pockets.

The John Hancock Observatory said Thursday it wants to be known under a new name aimed at better identifying its brand: 360 Chicago. The creative team behind the project has also introduced a new tagline -- "Best Views. All Around. " As many as four states are visible from the 94th floor observatory on the clearest days. The observatory is undergoing a renovation that is expected to be completed in the spring, aimed to improve views. The observatory was bought by Paris-based...